


Victory!

by LorenzoS



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Action, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29668530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LorenzoS/pseuds/LorenzoS
Summary: Hong Meiling and Cirno have themselves a spar.
Kudos: 7





	Victory!

It was a frigid early spring morning, and fat snowflakes drifted lazily in the icy breeze. On the twilit shores of Misty Lake, a battle was being fought.

Meiling deflected half a dozen frozen bullets with precise finger flicks. She was now on top of the hard-pressed Ice Fairy. Meiling struck downwards with a fist. Cirno jumped up and back, just in time to avoid the blow that scattered pebble and snow. Hand still buried, Meiling swept her legs around and caught Cirno midair.

It was like kicking a bag of cotton—light and floaty, with little weight to it. Cirno tumbled through the air and across the ground, leaving a little trench in the whiteness. She held her head as she got up.

Meiling frowned. Something was amiss here, she was sure of it. Cirno still had fight in her eyes, but she was recovering too slowly. Maybe she didn’t get her eight hours? Got too excited dreaming up imaginary battles and blew all of her energy beforehand? Or was it a bait, and would rushing in be playing right into Cirno’s hands?

Well, if it was, all the more to rush in and fall for it. Meiling broke into a sprint and telegraphed her next attack with a raised fist. She hoped it obvious enough for Cirno to understand.

When the fairy braced for impact and made to respond in kind, Meiling couldn’t help but smile. A layer of frost ran down Cirno’s arm and encased her hand in an improvised brass knuckle. She swung forward, and their fists met in the middle.

The frost instantly shattered. Cirno tottered backwards with a yelp. Meiling also bounced back, though not because she was forced too. She was just surprised. Her blow had little strength behind it, and yet, Cirno’s offense was crushed. It bewildered Meiling so much that she didn’t take advantage of the opening she had created. She only stood there gaping.

A blue light glowed from beneath the fairy. Then a wall of ice, like massive crystal formations, erupted from the ground and rammed into Meiling. The ice kept growing and surged forward, pushing her along with it.

Meiling was content with being carried until she looked over her shoulder and saw the half-frozen waters of Misty Lake rapidly approaching. She let out a panicked shout. Getting wet? In _this_ weather? No thank you! Even a youkai like her would catch the shivers.

She did a sharp intake of breath. Power flowed from her core and into her shoulder and down her arm before coalescing into a sphere of iridescent energy at her palm. She shoved it into the rushing ice, and for a brilliant moment, the crystalline structures lit up with all the colors of the rainbow. Then it exploded. _Booms_ and _bangs_ echoed across the lake as more colorful explosions traveled up the ice’s length, finally stopping when there was little more than a quarter of the original formation left intact.

Meiling lowered her arms from her face. The air was now thick with steam and something else—a fog that seemingly rolled in from nowhere. With her back to the lake, she slowly scanned her surroundings. 

A quiet moment where nothing happened.

Suddenly, from Meiling’s left, Cirno pierced the fog. She was flying, and in her hands she wielded a war hammer of ice. She swung hard. Crack! The hammer barely hit the back of Meiling’s head before shattering into a million pieces. Cirno swung again with the leftover hilt. It broke upon Meiling’s nose…

...and shot an ice shard straight up her nostril.

To suddenly become aware of how far into her skull her sinuses went was one of the worst experiences in Meiling’s life. She doubled over with a horrible sneeze. First one, then two, and then three—each one messier than the last. She fell onto all fours, and with one last _Achoo!_ , the ice shard was dislodged. There she remained, trembling as mucus dripped profusely off her face.

“Um, I didn’t mean to,” came Cirno’s tiny voice.

Meiling made no reply. She dragged herself to the lake’s edge and began cleaning herself up. The water was frigid but refreshing. After a minute, the mucus flow finally stemmed, and Meiling brought herself to face Cirno.

“Well...” the gatekeeper started. Cirno stiffened. 

“I guess that makes my first loss, huh?”

The look of nervous apprehension on the fairy’s face melted away to joy. She shouted and jumped and danced right there on the spot, her piping voice ringing out across the lake and surrounding woods.

**The End**


End file.
